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From Tortuguero, we had a rather long day of travelling although the distance we travelled wasn't actually that far. We caught the boat back along the canal (no thunderstorm this time) then four buses to get us to Cahuita, further down the Caribbean coast. We met a family with a five year old boy doing the same journey and couldn't believe how well behaved he was considering we spent eight hours travelling!
Fortunately when we arrived in Cahuita, our first choice of accommodation was available and they gave it to us at the rate we'd seen on their website ($25 instead of $35 per night) which was nice. The place is right by the sea and we had a little terrace just outside our room to enjoy the view. It's pretty nice going to sleep with the sound of the crashing waves.
We decided to only have one full day in Cahuita before pressing on to Panama. So we limited ourselves to exploring the national park just on the edge of town, after a bit of a late start. The park just has one trail running through it, mostly next to the beach. It's really beautiful with the combination of jungle and the coast next to each other, and at one point we had to wade through where the river joins the sea. Unfortunately we don't have a photo of this particularly pretty part where you can see the beach and behind it the jungle and river all at the same time, as Simon did not charge his camera and assumed that the spare battery would have charge in it after nearly three months (it didn't) so you will have to imagine this scene yourself.
As we had not fully prepared for the walk taking so long, we walked for just over two hours to the second river that enters the sea, before deciding to head back for some lunch. We had not seen loads of animals up to this point other than the usual lizards, some blue crabs and three squirrels so we were fortunate to bump into the family we met the previous day, at this turning point, who showed us where they had just seen two sloths. This sloth sighting made my day! (Although sadly no pictures) We saw one asleep on its back on a branch with its front toes holding on to two branches to keep it from falling and the other climbing around in the trees. We stayed here until my neck was hurting from looking up at them. On our walk back towards the town, we saw two separate groups of white-faced capuchin monkeys in the trees above us. We found the first when we nearly got hit by some sort of hard fruit falling on us from above, only to see one of the cheeky monkeys leaping around and knocking these fruits down to the ground. We also saw them taking bites out of the fruits then throwing them to the floor.
We returned to the town for a late lunch before having a relaxing afternoon and to prepare for our travel to Panama. The town of Cahuita is very small with a definite Caribbean, relaxed feel. We decided to stay here rather than the popular party town 25 miles down the road as we thought it would probably be nicer. Although we haven't been to the other town, we're sure we picked the right one as although it is obviously touristy, it still has a very local feel and is not set up for lots of backpackers to spend the night drinking in.
We have really loved Costa Rica and all the flora and fauna we have seen- it has been truly spectacular. It feels quite different to the other Central American countries we have been to, partly because it is more set up for tourists, in particular families, but also because of the accessibility of its wildlife and its ability to protect its forest. We would recommend it to anyone!
Katy
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